1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a photocopier or multifunction printer equipped with a hinged opening and closing cover able to provide access to clear paper jams or perform maintenance operations within the image registration area.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 15 illustrates a conventional photocopier or multifunction printer (hereafter referred to as the xe2x80x9cphotocopierxe2x80x9d) to which opening and closing cover 1501 is installed to the front side thereon in the form of a pivoting structure able to expose the internal area of the photocopier. As shown in FIG. 15, a hinge installed at the bottom edge of opening and closing cover 1501 provides pivoting support that allows the top of the panel to swing out and away from the photocopier when opened.
A toner bottle is exposed when opening and closing cover 1501 is opened, the purpose of the toner bottle being to supply toner to the developer unit which comprises part of the image registration system. The toner bottle is pivotably installed to be able to swing out away from the photocopier. The pivoting direction of the toner bottle is determined by the location of the hinge pin, installed either on the left or right side, that allows the opposite end of the toner bottle to swing out away from the photocopier. The developing unit and other components of the image registration system are located behind the toner bottle.
To perform maintenance work on the image registration system, opening and closing cover 1501 must first be opened, the toner bottle pivoted outward, and the developer unit and other mechanisms located in the internal area of the photocopier pulled out.
The above-described structures, however, exhibit certain shortcomings which are explained below.
As photocopiers become more functionally advanced, an automatic document re-feeder, which is required for dual-side printing, has been conventionally offered as optional equipment, although an increasing number of photocopiers now include this function as a standard built-in feature. As a result, the size of photocopiers incorporating a built-in document re-feeder have larger external dimensions. There is a market, however, for photocopiers that incorporate an automatic document re-feeder that does not increase the external dimensions of the photocopier. In order to produce this type of photocopier, it becomes necessary to reduce the size of the components within the photocopier as well as the space between those components.
In light of these factors, it has become essential to reduce the space required for the hinge on which opening and closing cover 1501 pivots, a space which has been conventionally been provided between the image registration system and the paper cassette drawers. The conventional installation of the hinge in the space between the image registration system and paper cassette drawers has the adverse effect of increasing the overall size of the photocopier. As a result, the hinge is not installed in that location within the photocopier where various mechanisms overlap in close proximity, but at the extreme left or right hand side of the copier, as shown in FIG. 16, to allow opening and closing cover 1501 to pivot to the left or right when opened.
Structuring the copier to allow opening and closing cover 1501 to pivot open to the left or right, however, results in various shortcomings that are explained below.
The structure whereby opening and closing cover 1501 swings open to the left or right creates a problem in that it restricts the angle to which opening and closing cover 1501 can be opened. This problem becomes apparent, as shown in FIG. 17, in cases where hinge 1701 is installed internally to the photocopier.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 17, opening and closing cover 1501 cannot open beyond a point at which its front surface comes into contact with the photocopier frame. Moreover, opening and closing cover 1501 must be opened and toner bottle 1702 swung out of the way before maintenance can be performed on the image registration system.
The restricted angle to which opening and closing cover 1501 opens also has the effect of restricting the angle to which toner bottle 1702 can swing out. The result is that toner bottle 1702 is not able to swing out to an angle sufficient to allow developer unit 1703 and other mechanisms installed behind toner bottle 1702 to be pulled out for maintenance.
To compensate for the limited opening angle of toner bottle 1702, developer unit 1703 and other internal components must be located a sufficient distance away from the pivoting hinge of toner bottle 1702 to allow their unobstructed withdrawal from the photocopier as shown in FIG. 18. For reasons of image quality, however, developer unit 1703 and other components which comprise the image registration system must be placed in an arrangement that provides for specific separation distances between the components. Placing these mechanisms a sufficient distance from the hinge of toner bottle 1702, however, has the adverse effect of significantly increasing in the width of the photocopier.
As shown in FIG. 19, hinge 1801 of opening and closing cover 1501 can be installed on the external surface of the photocopier in order to allow opening and closing cover 1501 to open widely without the front surface of the opening and closing cover contacting the photocopier frame. Mounting hinge 1801 externally, however, increases the external dimensions of the photocopier an amount equivalent to the protrusion of hinge 1801.
In order to eliminate the aforesaid problems, the present invention puts forth a structure for a photocopier that incorporates a left or right pivoting opening and closing cover that is able to open to a sufficiently wide angle to permit convenient access to internal components for maintenance purposes, and that does not increase the external dimensions of the photocopier.
The present invention is comprised of a left or right pivoting opening and closing cover installed to the front of a photocopier, and a pivoting intermediate member, of which a right or left edge thereof is pivotably joined to an internal side of an external surface of the photocopier, and of which the edge opposite to the aforesaid right or left edge provides pivoting support for the opening and closing cover.
The provision of the pivoting intermediate member between the pivoting access cover and photocopier frame allows the opening angle of the pivoting intermediate member to be added to the opening angle of the opening and closing cover, thus permitting the opening and closing cover to open to a wide angle sufficient to allow convenient access to the internal portion of the photocopier for maintenance work.